Good morning, RVA! It's 60 °F, and today's highs are once again in the 70s. I think we should see clearly now that the rain is gone! Just a few clouds here and there in our way.

Water cooler

You need to read this piece by Vanessa Remmers about Chesterfield County's English for Speakers of Other Languages students. Despite Supervisor Jaeckle's comments a couple weeks ago, the Chesterfield School Board has decided to expand services to ESOL students—including reducing class sizes and providing ESOL services in those students' home schools. I had no idea that in middle and high school students were shipped around to ESOL centers throughout the county! It's totally unsurprising that parents refuse ESOL services when it means longer commutes. No one, not even kids, likes a long commute! Also, this stat blows my mind: "the school system has enrolled 800 more ESOL students since September." Chesterfield is changing, and it's nice to see that at least part of the County government is changing along with it.

Pssst, speaking of, don't forget that the final two GRTC meetings to discuss the changes coming to the bus system are tonight and tomorrow. Also, if you've done your homework and figured out how the new system impacts your life, you can take their survey.

Yesterday, Congress voted to repeal regulations that protect your internet browsing history (and other sensitive information) from your internet service provider. It's important to keep in mind that the privacy sky is not falling. But, if the idea of your ISP snooping on your browsing habits skeezes you out, it may be time to check out a VPN service. A VPN, (Virtual Private Network) encrypts internet traffic from your device to the VPN's servers, where they decrypt it, and send it on its way. I've been using Cloak for a while now on all my iOS devices and love its simplicity—it's great for that coffee-shop freelancer lifestyle or when you want to use the terrifying hotel wifi. Cloak has a nice blog post, "Congress, ISPs, and You," that'll explain things in more/better detail.

Bill O'Reilly said a dumb, offensive thing about Congresswoman Maxine Waters—which you don't need to watch. You do, however, need to watch her response.

This morning's longread

I ordered a couple of boxes of Kevin’s jams and pickles, which he sells and barters in low quantities. Just having them has exerted an effect on the vibe of our kitchen and by extension the rest of the house. They’re like little jars of distilled sunlight, sitting there on the table. Through them I discovered the beauty of really good jam, namely that if you put it on toast—most difficult to ruin of all human foods—suddenly, almost without meaning to, you’ve started your day off well, with a little moment of flavor worth lingering over. My mother visited and ate some of Kevin’s Scotch marmalade, saying it gave her strong Kentucky-childhood flashbacks.